FC Twente in serious financial trouble

Raising salaries and buying expensive players has landed football club FC Twente in deep financial problems. The club, from president Joop Munsterman, is thought to be barreling down to category 1 at the license commission for the KNVB.

The club might be placed under trusteeship from the license commission next week, whereby they will not be able to make expenses like transfers for a long time.

FC Twente tried to escape the strict measures form the licensing commission using a bookkeeping trick, but that did not work. Submitting the latest numbers, Munsterman and his colleagues pulled future tv-money from FOX to the front. With that, the club reported incomes that are actually not available yet.

According to the Volkskrant, this news does not come as a surprise for many directors of other football clubs. Most of the competitors already know for some time that FC Twente lives above its pay-grade. Especially players' salaries have risen fast in the last years. Personnel costs rose with €4.1 million to €33.6 million.

The club has decided to put all the expensive players such as Tadic and Castaignos up for sale. "Expensive players have to make place for young talent", says Munsterman.